A “slow and uneven” economic recovery has left nearly 3,000 Bucks County children in “deep poverty,” with parents earning less than $12,000 per year, suggests a new analysis of state and federal records for the Philadelphia suburbs.
The nonprofit Public Citizens for Children and Youth reports a 43 percent increase in the number of Bucks County children enrolled in the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps, and a 45 percent increase in the number of students who are eligible to receive free and reduced-price breakfasts and lunches in school.
Since 2008, nearly 6,000 more Bucks County children became eligible for free and reduced price lunches and SNAP food benefits, according to the study. The total number on food subsidies, just under 20,000 kids, equates to about 15 percent of the total Bucks County population under age 18.
To qualify for SNAP benefits, those children must meet certain income and resource tests. For a family of three, the children qualify if the parents’ gross income is less than $19,536 per year. For a family of four, the parents need to earn less than $23,556 annually.
Even in the most affluent school districts, dozens more children and teens now qualify for free and reduced-price lunches. In the Central Bucks and New Hope-Solebury school districts, the number of kids eligible for free and reduced-price meals cafeteria food has doubled, records show.
“The reality is that we have families and children that are struggling just like the rest of the world,” said Raymond J. Boccuti, superintendent of New Hope-Solebury. “Some families won’t accept help because of pride.”
In Bensalem and Bristol Township, nearly half of all students now qualify for government-subsidized food, officials said.
In Bensalem, food services coordinator Polly Welch worries that, for some students, the cafeteria provides the only meal they eat all day. Since 2008, records show, nearly 900 Bensalem kids became eligible for subsidized breakfast and lunches.
Such struggles over food can have a long-term impact on the lives of children, suggested Kathy Fisher, director of family economic security for PCCY.
“It’s all about stability,” said Fisher. “If a family has a rough time, even for a short period, it can have a long-term impact on the welfare of the child. Overall, children may overcome great disadvantages, but we know all too well that children born into poverty are highly likely to remain poor as adults.”
The increased demand for cafeteria food comes as SNAP food subsidies fall nationwide. Food benefits rose by $36 per month under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. However, those benefits expired Nov. 1. The Public Citizens for Children and Youth report suggests the total loss to Bucks County families is $3.8 million per year.
And more cuts are possible. On Sept. 19, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 217-210 to further scale back food subsidies for lower income Americans. Bucks County Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick, R-8, was one of 15 Republicans to vote against the cuts.
“The cuts that were proposed went too far,” Fitzpatrick said Tuesday. The congressman said he supports more targeted reforms to “close loopholes, crack down on waste and abuse.”
Other proposed legislation would eliminate SNAP benefits for lottery winners and illegal immigrants.
“When there are people out there who can work but choose to rely on government programs, well, that literally takes food from the mouths of children and senior citizens,” Fitzpatrick said.
Children and teens are the most likely residents to be poor in Bucks, Census records show.
Last year, an estimated 2,902 kids were in families earning less than $11,775 annually, Census records show. That’s a slight improvement over previous years. As many as 4,582 children and teens fell into that income bracket in 2010.
In Montgomery County, the numbers were similar. In Bucks County, 5.7 percent of families with kids under age 18 fell below the poverty line. In Montgomery County, the rate was 5.7 percent for families with kids.
The greatest problem was reported among single-mom families. In both counties, census estimates for 2012 showed 17 percent of single-mom families in poverty.
And problems were far greater elsewhere.
In Philadelphia, kids were four times as likely to live below the poverty line, with a child-poverty rate estimated at 36.8 percent. The child-poverty rate was also reported as 30 percent in Delaware and 16 percent in Camden counties.
Nationwide, one in seven U.S. residents received SNAP benefits in 2011, according to the Congressional Budget Office. As the highest ever recorded participation rate for SNAP benefits, it cost taxpayers $78 billion that year. And the average benefit was $4.30 per person per day, according to the CBO.
“The Bottom Line is Children: Economic and Food Security in Bucks County” is available online at www.childrenfirstpa.org.
Bucks County Courier Times – December 4, 2013 – Read article online